Miami Police taze teenage graffiti artist to death

[tachosomoza]

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/08/2433561/miami-police-tase-teenage-graffiti-artist-to-death/


A celebrated 18-year-old graffiti artist died Tuesday after Miami police shot a taser into his chest, the Miami Herald reports. Israel Hernandez-Llach was something of a prodigy on the Miami art scene, who had won acclaim for his art and recently launched his own line of specially designed skateboards. By night, he was a graffiti artist known as “Reefa.”
Early Tuesday morning, police found Hernandez-Llach spray-painting an abandoned McDonald’s building and chased him down. The police report claims the teen ran through alleyways and jumped a fence before police finally caught him and shot a taser into his chest. Hernandez-Llach collapsed immediately and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to his best friend’s mother, Hernandez-Llach “had been warned before by police that if they caught him again they would beat the shit out of him.”
The Miami Police Department has undergone federal investigation for its misconduct twice in the past 7 years. The latest Department of Justice investigation found that officers routinely used excessive force when confronting suspects, leading to avoidable deaths.
Street artists generally see tangling with police as just another part of their work, but these encounters often turn disproportionately abusive. Prominent graffiti artist Shepard Fairey has openly discussed how police frequently beat him up, threw him in jail and denied him the insulin pump he needs as a diabetic. After two days in a New York jail without his insulin, he started vomiting uncontrollably and nearly died. Most famously, black graffiti artist Michael Jerome Stewart was beaten and kicked to death by NYPD officers after spray painting a subway wall.
The city of Miami and the state attorney’s office are investigating Hernandez-Llach’s death. His family will also likely launch an independent investigation.

The list of capital offenses is growing larger and larger by the day.

[theghostofnestor]

The city of Miami and the state attorney’s office are investigating Hernandez-Llach’s death.

Lets skip to the inevitable conclusion shall we? "Yes mistakes were made and we must learn from them and move forward. Our thoughts are with the family" same bullshit every time

[tachosomoza]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/07/3548779/graffiti-artist-dies-after-tasering.html


At just 18, Israel Hernández-Llach was already an award-winning artist, on the threshold of acclaim in Miami Beach art circles. He was a sculptor, painter, writer and photographer whose craft was inspired by his home country of Colombia and his adopted city, Miami.
He was also a graffiti artist, known as “Reefa,” who sprayed colorful splashes of paint on the city’s abandoned buildings while playing cat-and-mouse with cops, who, like many property owners, consider graffiti taggers to be vandals, not artists.


It was while spray-painting a shuttered McDonald’s early Tuesday morning that Hernández-Llach was chased down by Miami Beach police and shot in the chest with a Taser. He later died.
Miami Beach Police Chief Ray Martinez said the department “would like to extend its condolences to the family of Israel Hernández.”
Two of the dead teenager’s friends, including one who says he was his “lookout” while Hernández-Llach applied paint, said the officers exchanged high-fives and congratulations after Tasering him.


“He was on the ground and the cops were making jokes,” said 19-year-old Thiago Souza.
Félix Fernández said he saw about five police officers chasing Hernández and shoving him against a wall. Then he saw his friend on the ground, surrounded by police.


“He is a very skinny guy, very small” Fernández said.
Martinez said the incident is under investigation.
The chief said Hernández-Llach was confronted by officers about 5 a.m. as he was vandalizing private property, and he fled, leading officers on a foot chase. It ended at 71st and Harding when he was cornered by police and ran toward the officers, ignoring commands to stop, Martinez said.
“The officers were forced to use the Taser to avoid a physical incident,’’ the chief said.


He was hit once in the chest and collapsed, Martinez said, at which point officers noticed he was showing signs of distress. He was transported by fire-rescue to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Tasers are considered a nonlethal weapon, and police say their use has greatly reduced the number of fatalities in confrontations between police and violent subjects. Deaths after a Tasering are uncommon — but they do happen. Often an autopsy will discover that the Tasered individual had either a pre-existing medical condition or drugs in their system.
The medical examiner did not rule on a cause of death following an autopsy Wednesday. Further tests are pending, but Martinez said Hernández-Llach did not suffer any other injuries. Martinez said Hernández-Llach’s only previous arrest was for shoplifting, and that there was no indication he was involved in gang activity.



At the family’s apartment in Bay Harbor Islands Wednesday evening, a group of family and friends were tearfully coming to grips with their loss. Arranged carefully on a table in the apartment: an array of the young man’s drawings, sculptures and awards.



“He wanted to change the world somehow through art,” said the teenager’s 21-year-old sister, Offir Hernández. “We want answers. We only want to know what happened.”
The family’s lawyer, Todd McPharlin, said his clients would like an independent investigation of the incident.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/07/3548779/graffiti-artist-dies-after-tasering.html#storylink=cpy


All officers involved in this case need to be immediately terminated from their positions, arrested, tried, convicted and sent to jail, just as the victim would most certainly have been if he had killed a police officer.

[RedBen]

All officers involved in this case need to be immediately terminated from their positions, arrested, tried, convicted and sent to jail, just as the victim would most certainly have been if he had killed a police officer.
you're an awful lot more forgiving and generous than i am:D